So i wanted to write the next super papa chapter but i wanted to study for my vocab. so combined the two! Please enjoy!

L.L.A.P

~Laces

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Your skin is supposed to be impervious to harm!" Dr. Milo yelled at the five-year-old. He had just got her from the Cadmus team in Germany and it was expected that the girl was mature enough to have developed her abilities. Milo was a vituperative man. He looked weak, but he was abusive when he was angry.

The small girl was sobbing, her arm covered in blood from where the bullet sank into her skin.

She was a tyro to pain. She wasn't used to feeling it.

"Dr. Milo… das… das tat weh…" Milo smacked the girl with the butt of the gun, making her whimper in more pain.

"I know you know English. I don't want your broken German crap!" he exclaimed, angrily.

"Th-they… no… th-th-that. That… that… that…" she raked her mind, trying to remember the word. She was given a crash course lesson in English, but she couldn't remember it all. She was still having trouble with translating things from Japanese to German. Now she had to deal with Japanese to German to English.

"That… That…"Milo slapped her face.

"That what? Spit it out!"

"That…. That…" the girl's eyes watered. She saw Milo reel his hand back and smack her again.

"Just say it!"

"I do…. Do…. No…. I do no…" she faltered. She couldn't remember any words to finish her sentence. She didn't know how to tell him that she didn't remember how to say the phrase, 'That hurts.'

Milo started hitting her. His snacks were unremitting, and the girl continued to sob.

"STOP!" she remembered that word. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Milo acquiesced to the girl's plea, and stopped hitting her.

"You are Project Power. You will deflect this bullet. Understood?" He growled, raising the gun to shoot her other arm.

"P-please… please do… do… please do no…"she wasn't able to speak as she felt the bullet sink into her skin, and she screamed in pain.

Milo was not one to vacillate from his idea. Project Power would reap results. He just needed to find a way to make the girl develop her abilities.

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The girl became very chary in the following weeks. Especially when a guard came by. She associated guards with pain. Every time a guard came by, they usually came to escort her out of her room to one of the labs where she would have tests ran on her.

She tried her hardest to seem imperturbable because that was what Milo wanted. Milo wanted her to be a calm good little girl. However, her fears grew and she was terrified. She missed the Cadmus labs in Japan. At least in Japan they treated her like a human being. Even in Germany she was treated with some care. But here, she was just a 'thing'.

Once again, guards appeared at her door to bring her to a testing room.

The girl stood to her feet and shakily walked toward the two men.

It was mandated that the guards didn't speak to the girl unless it was absolutely necessary. However, the guards didn't need to talk to her in order to scare her.

"I saw Milo getting a lot of knives prepped for the room." One of the guards said to the other.

"Yeah, me too." The other nodded. "Must've been about a dozen of really sharp knives."

"What do you think he's going to do with them?" the other guard inquired, and smirked when the girl looked even more terrified.

"I don't know, but whatever he's going to cut up will probably be in a lot of pain." The guard nodded, and both men chuckled at how the girl was shaking so hard.

When she entered the room, she saw a pile of sharp knives on a tray, refulgent in the lab lighting. The room was redolent with the smell of cleaning alcohol.

The girl broke down with a paroxysm of sobs. She was so scared she couldn't hide it, and she sobbed and shook, and wet herself slightly. The guards lifted her from her position on the ground, and strapped her to the table as Milo calumniated that she was only crying to get out of the experiment and it was all an act.

The guards showed a paltry amount of pity. All except one of the older guards who cringed every time the girl screamed.

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The girl whimpered when a guard appeared in the doorway to her living space. He stepped inside the room, and looked at her with his deep brown eyes.

He took off his helmet, placing it on the ground as he sat on one of the chairs.

"Hello." He said in a gentle voice. The girl was surprised that the man spoke to her so kindly, and also that he took his helmet off. He had graying black hair, and his dark brown skin had several wrinkles.

"H-hello." The girl stuttered, waiting for something bad to happen.

"My name is Ralph." He informed.

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Ralph was a dilettante at being a father, never having any children of his own, but he was very kind to the girl. He had a collusion with the girl that he was just guarding her because he thought she was dangerous. In reality, he saw how lonely and scared the girl was, and just wanted to help her.

Every time he entered the room, the girl wanted to give an acclamation, but smiled softly, knowing that she acted too happy to see him, he might be taken away.

Ralph would sneak her in books, and taught her how to better understand English. She did improve in her comprehension of the language, but she still found it hard to speak at times.

She was happy to read the books about heroes going on a peregrinationto other lands, and bucolic country sides.

One day, Ralph brought the girl a Teddy Bear. It was simple, but the man figured she needed a friend when he couldn't be there.

Unfortunately, due to a guard known for his pedantry, Ralph was "told on" and Milo quickly had the man fired.

The girl never had a chance to say Good bye.

Milo wouldn't let the girl have an increment of happiness, and told the guards to take the teddy bear away.

However, the girl held onto the toy and curled around it into a small ball. The guards would kick and jab at her, trying to make her release the animal, but she was unrelenting and screamed as loud as she could.

Finally, Milo sighed and told the guards that there was no harm in letting her keep the toy. He figured that one plushy wouldn't make a difference to the girl.

"Ralph, when are you going to come back?" she questioned once she was alone, staring at the bear.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she cried, hugging the toy. Ralph was her only friend, and he was gone.

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Athena sighed as she stared at the essay question.

What was your favorite childhood memory.

There was always the childhood she had after Conner and the rest of the team took her out of Cadmus, but she couldn't help but thinking about her earliest memories.

She sighed, and ended up writing a paper about her best friend Ralph. She was only in sixth grade and she already hated writing essays.

The class ended and she walked to lunch, joining Ramon and Paige at a lunch table.

"Y'know, we're getting a new principal today." Ramon informed.

"Yeah, because the last one was so creepy. He molested Sarah Sterns. Can you believe that? What a creep. If he tried anything funny with me, I'd whack him really hard. Good thing he's out of the school and we have this Mr. Jones guy. Man. If he's a creepy molester, than I am going to completely lose faith in the Gotham School System." Paige rattled on.

"So we got a new principal named Mr. Jones?" Athena questioned, and Ramon nodded.

"Yup. There's gonna be an assembly where he's gonna introduce himself. Weren't you paying attention to the announcements?"

"Um… not really." Athena said with a weak smile. She was zoned out thinking about music at the time.

"You're so silly, 'Thena." Paige giggled, and they continued to eat their lunch until it was time for them to head to the assembly.

They all took their seats in the auditorium, when an African American man with completely gray hair stood in front of the student body.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Jones, and I will be the new principal for Winick Middle School." He informed.

Athena's eyes widened as she stared at the man, and listened to his voice.

"Oh my god." She whispered. She watched as he spoke about what he would and would not tolerate in the school, and he sounded like a great principal.

After the assembly was over, Athena went straight to the office.

"Excuse me, may I speak with the principal please?" she questioned, and the secretary nodded as she paged Mr. Jones that a student wanted to see him.

She walked into his office, and stared at him, still in shock.

"Hello, can you tell me your name? I want to be able to know all my students." He smiled kindly.

"A-Athena." the girl stuttered. "Athena Laurel Prince." She stated.

"And what can I do for you today, Ms. Prince? Is there a problem?" Athena's eyes got blurry and tears streaked her face.

"Athena?" the girl looked up, holding the contacts that fell out of her eyes due to her tears.

"Ralph… I missed you." The man's eyes widened in surprise.

"Project Power?" he whispered.

"It's Athena now." She said with a small smile. Ralph walked over to the girl and gave her a strong hug.

"You got out of there. I am so happy for you, Athena." he said with a broad smile. "I was so worried what would happen to you after I was fired."

The two talked and caught up each other on their lives. After he was fired, Ralph became a teacher and quickly was able to become a principal. He never did marry, but he was great with kids, and he adopted a kitten, which he named Power.

Athena placed her contacts back in and smiled at the man.

"Good luck with this principal job." The man smiled back at her.

"Good luck with your abilities, Athena."

The girl visited the principal as often as she could.

Athena was happy to finally see Ralph again. And when she graduated middle school, she could also had her chance to say Good bye.